The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Amherst prevails in battle of conference champs
Comets’ Gotsis scores 24 points, Hamrlik adds 16 points in win
Each season, teams aim to capture statement wins.
Amherst (15-3) did just that on Feb. 19 with a 76-53 road win over Keystone (14-5). The matchup featured the Southwestern Conference Champion Comets and the Lorain County League champion Wildcats.
Amherst came ready to play, enforced its will early on both ends of the floor and took control of the game from the tip. The Comets led the entire way and were firing on all cylinders all night. Amherst led 20-9 at the end of the opening quarter and took a 41-30 lead into the half.
“We’ve talked about it all season, sitting down and getting stops,” Amherst coach Pat Bray said. “We did that and we also talk about when we do get those stops, pushing the ball and turning them into points. I thought we did a really good job of that starting the game off.”
With starter Austin Bray missing the contest, Amherst juniors George Gotsis and Nick Hamrlik stepped up and had big games. Gotsis scored 15 of his 24 points in the first half, while Hamrlik scored 12 of his 16 in the first half to help set the tone and give the road team a halftime advantage.
Gotsis was in a groove all night and doubled his season points average of 11.2 points per game.
“My teammates found me in the open spots and I was able to make (shots),” said Gotsis.
In the third quarter, Keystone guard Ryan Walsh came out firing.
The sophomore had a quiet first half with three points but made sure that didn’t extend into the second half. He scored seven straight Wildcat points to open the third and tallied 13 of his 21 total points in the quarter. Walsh nailed three 3-pointers in the quarter and did all he could to get his team back into the game.
Walsh’s first three of the quarter brought is team within six points at 41-35. That’s as close as Keystone would get in the second half as the Comets had an answer for Walsh’s surge.
Amherst forward Ty Weatherspoon (22 points) made a pair of free throws, while Gotsis drained a pair of 3s as part of an 8-0 Comets surge to put Amherst back up by double digits at 49-35.
“We’ve hung our hats all year on not getting too excited over the moment,” Bray said. “We know teams are going to make their runs. We have to be able to take that hit and say ‘ok, now it’s our turn’ and come back.”
Keystone had trouble containing Weatherspoon and the Comets on the glass all night. In addition to the rebounding battle, turnovers also hurt the Wildcats as they committed 19 of them.
“Our careless turnovers (have occurred) the last few games. As soon as we start playing some teams that can match us athletically, we’re just handing them the ball,” Keystone coach Jeff Holzhauer said. “Our kids are better than this and we aren’t playing very well right now against better competition.”
Amherst led 61-45 through three and each time Keystone tried to make a run, the Comets had an answer. The road team closed out the game in the fourth and didn’t allow any sort of comeback from the Wildcats.
Outside of Walsh, Keystone received contributions from senior Rocky Houston and junior Christian Pataky. Houston finished with 12 points on four first half 3s, while Christian Pataky tallied 10 points.
Amherst will look to keep the good times rolling when they host Firelands on Feb. 20, while Keystone’s first tournament game is scheduled for Feb. 26 vs. the winner of Hawken-Woodridge.
“This is a big one and we follow it up tomorrow with another big one against Firelands,” Gotsis said. “Keystone and Firelands split one-to-one (this season).”